An integration issue
Derik Wagner describes MTN Satellite Communications' product specification document for satellite communication, design and integration, aiming to help educate owners and avoid costly mistakes.…
Words by Derik Wagner, MTN Satellite Communications
As yacht designers continue to push the boundaries of design, MTN Satellite Communications have created a product specification document for satellite communication, design and integration in a bid to help educate owners and prevent costly mistakes.
When building a superyacht, it’s easy to get swept away in the pretty images of the initial design concepts. Beautiful sketches with stunning exterior lines will always win over an owner at first. However, more often than not, designers haven’t thought about the yacht’s communications. Creatively, they neglect to put antennas and masts on the vessel simply because it doesn’t look good. As a result, many initial sketches don’t involve these critically important structures and if they do, most are grossly inadequate or inaccurate.
Based on the initial design drafts, owners often like what they see and proceed with the design. They then set out to find the right manufacturer to build the yacht. Only then does the discussion concerning the domes and antennas required for a broadband communications system begin. However, unfortunately many manufacturers are not aware of what is necessary because they often lack the staff on board who specialise in satellite communications. So when they reach out to the technology integrators, they often reach out much too late in the build process.
Add to this huge growth demands over recent years that are pushing the boundaries of the industry to deliver the next ‘ground-breaking yacht’. We at MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) have experienced, first hand, the problems associated with creating and missing aggressive deadlines set forth by our clients and the maritime culture. We have seen unnecessary costs incurred by owners and the shipyards alike to varying levels. The reality is, these extra expenses may have been avoided if certain guidelines and specifications were followed.
To help educate owners and prevent further costly mistakes, we have created a product specification document for satellite communication, design and integration. Written with designers and builders in mind, the guide aims to help manufacturers overcome some of the most common problems associated with positioning the VSAT, including antenna blockage, inadequate cabling and other issues that will affect a vessel’s communications capabilities.
Antenna positioning
One of the most overlooked aspects of VSAT installation is the importance of careful positioning of the antenna on board the yacht. The size and positioning of the antenna is the subject of constant struggle for designers and VSAT engineers. Generally the designer wins and the antenna is hidden between other domes and masts.
VSAT engineers want to avoid obstruction and optimise satellite link visibility. While hiding the antenna may be appealing to a designer’s eye, it means an obstructed view of the satellite, which could lead to lost reception and satellite communication outages. Expectations in uptime are high and these structurally caused outages can quickly become an annoying and costly fact in the lives of the owner, crew and guests. In most cases, the system will need to be redesigned to reposition the antenna. A good compromise is for VSAT engineers and designers to work together on proper mast and VSAT antenna positioning.
Masts, funnels or other nearby obstructions could also cause a connection link to fail entirely. Single-side band antennas and radars can disrupt your connection while neighbouring vessels can cause radio frequency and interference from their VSAT and radars.
With time and money well invested, everyone will be highly satisfied with sound design integration of the special pedestal and mounting base, as well as appropriate placement on the platform. This will lead to improved satellite line of sight and maximised communication capabilities.
Cabling
The next point to consider is the cabling that’s used to connect the antenna to the equipment stored below deck. The cable is important and in most modern installations, relying on the L-band frequency, which is the communication frequency used to work with VSAT from the antenna to the modems. It is high frequency and sensitive to noise.
In many cases the wrong specification is used for cabling. The turns that it takes in and amongst the infrastructure of the yacht can’t take too strong an angle otherwise the cable, especially solid copper core which is most recommended, can endure reflection. These cables not only transfer the radio frequency, they’re also carrying power. Reflection and shorts are common problems and can destroy the signal, cable, antenna transmission components, and even the modem.
When manufacturers build yachts and put cable runs in – or let’s say they don’t plan on it and put proper conduit in, either way they should put proper conduit in necessary to future proof the vessel – they have runs that may disconnect. Then you have to put terminations in the cabling. Once you put a terminator in, you are inserting another possible point of failure. Not only do terminations increase line loss, but they are also very sensitive and if shorted there’s different types of insulation inside the cabling and you can effectively ruin that run.
This is where you experience the worst problems because you may have intermittent troubles from vibration that can cause a complete break in the Internet connection, or periodic issues that you test for with line sweeping equipment, but cannot detect the problem. The yacht continues on its journey, the vibrations return, and so does the problem. Issues like these can be very frustrating for customers and providers alike and waste much valuable time in troubleshooting.
If the cabling is done incorrectly, you may have to tear the yacht apart. If you do it properly the first time, it may or may not be more expensive, but in the long run it’s going to save owners money and frustration. To do this you may have to wait for a yard period, during which you will endure difficult communications and it will cost you charters, which leads to a continued loss of income. Or if you put the yacht into refit just to have this work done, you’ve got to pull the skin off the entire boat to re-run the cabling properly.
One of our first yacht customers recently ran a new cable because they are installing a second antenna to alleviate mast blockage, which has been a problem. They ran one 50-foot cable, over a short distance from the bridge to the roof and it cost $4,000 US. Now this was done during a routine yard period, but if their mast blockage was greater they would have undoubtedly scheduled a yard period simply to alleviate this one issue which would have increased their costs exponentially.
About 90 per cent of yachts come back for incorrect cabling. The best manufacturers in the industry are now getting more involved, which is positive. They are reaching out to vendors like MTN more and taking control because obviously it’s been an issue for their owners. They’re saying “We can’t afford not to be more involved in this.”
The interesting thing now is that yachts are being signed and the contract drawn up with the airtime included, which I don’t believe has ever been done before. I believe owners are saying, “I’m building a boat but the communications package to me is incredibly important. I’m going to hold the manufacturer to that. It’s part of the warranty.” If you take a car, for example, you have different sound systems. It is a different animal. However, every single system on that vehicle is going to be under warranty. Therefore the communications system is going to be a part of that going forward for many yachts.
At the end of the day, we’re aiming to deliver valuable information to owners to allow them to make good decisions that will eventually bring a much better, reliable, usable system and, in essence, a happy owner. Owners are then more likely to enjoy their time on their boat, spend more time on their boat, and invite their friends onto their boat. If we can help an owner to seamlessly feel like they are on their boat and able to do anything and everything they can do like they would at their home or office, then we’ve done our jobs.
To obtain a copy of the MTN yacht specification document, please email syo@mtnsat.com with your contact details.
As yacht designers continue to push the boundaries of design, MTN Satellite Communications have created a product specification document for satellite communication, design and integration in a bid to help educate owners and prevent costly mistakes.
When building a superyacht, it’s easy to get swept away in the pretty images of the initial design concepts. Beautiful sketches with stunning exterior lines will always win over an owner at first. However, more often than not, designers haven’t thought about the yacht’s communications. Creatively, they neglect to put antennas and masts on the vessel simply because it doesn’t look good. As a result, many initial sketches don’t involve these critically important structures and if they do, most are grossly inadequate or inaccurate.
Based on the initial design drafts, owners often like what they see and proceed with the design. They then set out to find the right manufacturer to build the yacht. Only then does the discussion concerning the domes and antennas required for a broadband communications system begin. However, unfortunately many manufacturers are not aware of what is necessary because they often lack the staff on board who specialise in satellite communications. So when they reach out to the technology integrators, they often reach out much too late in the build process.
Add to this huge growth demands over recent years that are pushing the boundaries of the industry to deliver the next ‘ground-breaking yacht’. We at MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) have experienced, first hand, the problems associated with creating and missing aggressive deadlines set forth by our clients and the maritime culture. We have seen unnecessary costs incurred by owners and the shipyards alike to varying levels. The reality is, these extra expenses may have been avoided if certain guidelines and specifications were followed.
To help educate owners and prevent further costly mistakes, we have created a product specification document for satellite communication, design and integration. Written with designers and builders in mind, the guide aims to help manufacturers overcome some of the most common problems associated with positioning the VSAT, including antenna blockage, inadequate cabling and other issues that will affect a vessel’s communications capabilities.
Antenna positioning
One of the most overlooked aspects of VSAT installation is the importance of careful positioning of the antenna on board the yacht. The size and positioning of the antenna is the subject of constant struggle for designers and VSAT engineers. Generally the designer wins and the antenna is hidden between other domes and masts.
VSAT engineers want to avoid obstruction and optimise satellite link visibility. While hiding the antenna may be appealing to a designer’s eye, it means an obstructed view of the satellite, which could lead to lost reception and satellite communication outages. Expectations in uptime are high and these structurally caused outages can quickly become an annoying and costly fact in the lives of the owner, crew and guests. In most cases, the system will need to be redesigned to reposition the antenna. A good compromise is for VSAT engineers and designers to work together on proper mast and VSAT antenna positioning.
Masts, funnels or other nearby obstructions could also cause a connection link to fail entirely. Single-side band antennas and radars can disrupt your connection while neighbouring vessels can cause radio frequency and interference from their VSAT and radars.
With time and money well invested, everyone will be highly satisfied with sound design integration of the special pedestal and mounting base, as well as appropriate placement on the platform. This will lead to improved satellite line of sight and maximised communication capabilities.
Cabling
The next point to consider is the cabling that’s used to connect the antenna to the equipment stored below deck. The cable is important and in most modern installations, relying on the L-band frequency, which is the communication frequency used to work with VSAT from the antenna to the modems. It is high frequency and sensitive to noise.
In many cases the wrong specification is used for cabling. The turns that it takes in and amongst the infrastructure of the yacht can’t take too strong an angle otherwise the cable, especially solid copper core which is most recommended, can endure reflection. These cables not only transfer the radio frequency, they’re also carrying power. Reflection and shorts are common problems and can destroy the signal, cable, antenna transmission components, and even the modem.
When manufacturers build yachts and put cable runs in – or let’s say they don’t plan on it and put proper conduit in, either way they should put proper conduit in necessary to future proof the vessel – they have runs that may disconnect. Then you have to put terminations in the cabling. Once you put a terminator in, you are inserting another possible point of failure. Not only do terminations increase line loss, but they are also very sensitive and if shorted there’s different types of insulation inside the cabling and you can effectively ruin that run.
This is where you experience the worst problems because you may have intermittent troubles from vibration that can cause a complete break in the Internet connection, or periodic issues that you test for with line sweeping equipment, but cannot detect the problem. The yacht continues on its journey, the vibrations return, and so does the problem. Issues like these can be very frustrating for customers and providers alike and waste much valuable time in troubleshooting.
If the cabling is done incorrectly, you may have to tear the yacht apart. If you do it properly the first time, it may or may not be more expensive, but in the long run it’s going to save owners money and frustration. To do this you may have to wait for a yard period, during which you will endure difficult communications and it will cost you charters, which leads to a continued loss of income. Or if you put the yacht into refit just to have this work done, you’ve got to pull the skin off the entire boat to re-run the cabling properly.
One of our first yacht customers recently ran a new cable because they are installing a second antenna to alleviate mast blockage, which has been a problem. They ran one 50-foot cable, over a short distance from the bridge to the roof and it cost $4,000 US. Now this was done during a routine yard period, but if their mast blockage was greater they would have undoubtedly scheduled a yard period simply to alleviate this one issue which would have increased their costs exponentially.
About 90 per cent of yachts come back for incorrect cabling. The best manufacturers in the industry are now getting more involved, which is positive. They are reaching out to vendors like MTN more and taking control because obviously it’s been an issue for their owners. They’re saying “We can’t afford not to be more involved in this.”
The interesting thing now is that yachts are being signed and the contract drawn up with the airtime included, which I don’t believe has ever been done before. I believe owners are saying, “I’m building a boat but the communications package to me is incredibly important. I’m going to hold the manufacturer to that. It’s part of the warranty.” If you take a car, for example, you have different sound systems. It is a different animal. However, every single system on that vehicle is going to be under warranty. Therefore the communications system is going to be a part of that going forward for many yachts.
At the end of the day, we’re aiming to deliver valuable information to owners to allow them to make good decisions that will eventually bring a much better, reliable, usable system and, in essence, a happy owner. Owners are then more likely to enjoy their time on their boat, spend more time on their boat, and invite their friends onto their boat. If we can help an owner to seamlessly feel like they are on their boat and able to do anything and everything they can do like they would at their home or office, then we’ve done our jobs.
To obtain a copy of the MTN yacht specification document, please email syo@mtnsat.com with your contact details.
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